As computers have evolved, they have moved from the realm of simple arithmetic computing to media centers for any number of media and non-media related applications. As a result, computer systems often include any number of peripheral or input/output devices. Furthermore, the advancement in semi-conductor processing and computer design have enabled computer systems to include more transistors and processing power on single physical processors, while also allowing multiple physical processors to reside in a single system.
As a corollary to the advancement of integrated circuits, and the processing power thereof, interconnects between the devices have also advanced to provide adequate bandwidth to high-power components. As a specific example, components in the architecture may be coupled utilizing point-to-point links.
However, often transmitters for these links are designed to operate at power levels to meet extreme specification guidelines. For examples, specifications for physical links, i.e. transmission lines, between a transmitter and receiver may exist, which define both length and other attributes. As a result, a transmitter often operates at a high power level to ensure proper transmission of data across a maximum length transmission line; even when the actual link/transmission line is shorter than a specified maximum. As a result, extra power is potentially consumed to ensure accurate data transmission, when less power may be utilized with the same accuracy of data transmission.